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The sponsorship deal with Aramco – the biggest oil producer in the world – raises further questions about world governing body Fifa’s climate impact.
The 2030 World Cup has drawn criticism from environmental groups because it is being held across six countries from three different continents, but Fifa said it would “take all required measures to mitigate the environmental impact”.
In June 2023, a Swiss regulator said Fifa made false claims about the reduced environmental impact of the 2022 World Cup, which was held in Qatar.
Following news of the Fifa deal on Thursday, campaign group Fossil Free Football said: “Saudi Aramco and the Saudi state are determined to keep the world addicted to fossil fuels.
“They now get the world’s biggest platform to sell their polluting products and try to clean up their image.”
It said Fifa “should break its ties to big polluters”, adding: “Fans and players deserve better.”
A spokesperson for Greenpeace described it as an “own goal” for Fifa and a “brazen example of sportswashing”.
“Aramco is using a sport loved by billions of people around the world to distract the public from the consequences of their climate-wrecking business,” the statement added.
“No longer welcome as sponsors by many museums and cultural institutions, oil giants are now all over the world of sport looking for popular brands with which to greenwash their image. Fifa should have shown Aramco a red card instead of rolling out the red carpet.”
Independent think tank Carbon Tracker says Aramco is “the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitter”.
But Aramco says it has “one of the lowest upstream carbon footprints in the industry”.
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